It had been the same argument, one they'd been having for days after the defeat and capture of Gellert Grindelwald. Albus had had enough, his patience only lasted so long, albeit longer for Gellert, yet still, he found himself surfeited with the constant conversation.
"Gellert-" Albus huffed, "Before I leave... you must know something."
Gellert snickered, "What? That you love me, huh, Albus? That this was something you had to do? Please, cut the pretences, I don't want to hear it," he replied with an eye roll.
Albus choked out a small laugh before he moved to sit beside his former lover. Gently, he pried a chained hand from Gellert's lap and held it tightly in his own two, "No... I wanted to thank you."
Gellert reeled back at the words that had escaped Albus' mouth and turned to look at him, a bewildered expression lining his features. Albus sat, almost gingerly, playing with Gellert's fingers as if they were a puzzle, the dark wizard couldn't see his face entirely but the grin that had outstretched on Albus' face was hard to miss, "Thank me?" He repeated, doubtfully.
When Albus' steel eyes met his own, Gellert nearly withdrew from his grasp. The mischievousness, the compassion, the purity he'd adored staring into that fateful summer and beyond had been unsettlingly replaced with a dark, malevolent gaze. The ominous look set Gellert's restricted magic alight; something wasn't right.
"Why, yes!" Albus gleamed, "After all, you played your part marvellously, darling."
"My... part?"
Albus cackled, the sound laced with venom, as he cupped his partner's face, "But isn't it just humorous?" He beamed, "After all this time you still haven't figured it out yet..."
The wizard lifted himself from his seat beside Gellert and sauntered toward the small crack in the wall that was to act as a window in the coming years of Gellert's imprisonment, "Though, you always did consider yourself the superior one, didn't you?" Albus asked whilst he gazed through the fracture at the dark world on the other side, "The one who knew all with his rare gift and magical talent, I'll admit, I admired the image."
Gellert panned his eyes to the locked door, in which the guards had exited through after retrieving Albus' wand and exchanging a few muffled words of gratitude, "But, despite that knowledge... you were still clueless, my dear."
"I beg to differ," Gellert spat, his chains rattling as he shifted to face Albus' turned back, "I can read you like a book, Dumbledore."
"Ah!" Albus excitedly declared before he turned back to Gellert, "But can you, really?" He asked, crossing the few feet between himself and Gellert, "Or are you simply reading the very book I've presented to you?" Albus whispered when he was close enough to mutter in the man's ear.
Once more, Albus chuckled before lifting himself to stand before Gellert, "The poor, lost talent from Godric's Hollow, who'd lost his mother and father in such tragic accidents, befriends the delinquent boy from two doors down, who shows him just had extraordinary their gifts are. It was no wonder they fell so deeply in love with one another, so intently, even, that they decided to forge a blood pact that would stop them from ever hurting one another," he explained as he paced back and forth, "But then, after a grave duel the lovers were separated, never to see one another again until their horrific fight that left only one victorious. Sound familiar?" Albus inquired with a smirk.
"Oh, how it is the perfect story!" He smiled, "Such passion, such heartbreak!" Albus furthered, theatrically, "It would make even the strongest of heart weep..."
Gellert glared at Albus as his former partner tilted his head at him, "Confused, old friend?" He questioned, "Perhaps, I can give you some insight?"
Albus moved to sit beside Gellert again, "There is but one flaw to your plan of domination... you."
"You--"
"Ah, ah!" Albus silenced, "Always so quick to speak out of turn," he tutted as if talking to a student, "It is true, unfortunately. You see, Gellert, you crave attention, you wish for everyone to see you. You, you, you! You wished to be the King of this world, a face every person, in every crevice of the earth would recognise and bow to. You called that power," Albus taunted, "...but I know better and I always have."
"Do not fret, after all, we've been fighting for the same goal since 1899."
"Lies! You turned your back on the Greater Good, you hid in your ghastly school and allowed the world to burn around you!" Gellert seethed, making Albus chuckle.
"Oh, darling, I didn't turn my back on the Greater Good, I simply realised I couldn't achieve my goal with you at my side..."
"What?" Gellert objected.
"You're much too obvious, too full of feeling! But, albeit, during our time together you gave me exactly what I wanted. Do you truly think it was merely a coincidence that Bathilda asked you to stay with her that summer? A Historian, as busy as she was, taking in a stray she hadn't seen, nor bothered to check up on his entire life, purely out of the kindness of her heart?" Albus questioned with a chuckle, "No, you were and have been exactly where I've wanted you your whole life, Gellert, just as everyone else has..." he paused, checking the door subtly, "...just as Ariana was."
"What have you done?" Gellert muttered.
"Not what have I done; what will I do," he replied, "They will award me the Order of Merlin, in which I will hesitantly accept with such gratitude. After that, they will try so dearly to encourage me to run for Minister, which I will decline for power is oh so very dangerous in my hands!" Albus chuckled, "Soon enough the entire wizarding world will see me as their hero and I won't need to be minister to make sure my every want is met, for I will have enough influence to have other people do it for me."
Gellert sat in shock, unknowing what to say to the man he thought he'd known through and through, "Do you know what makes a man powerful, Gellert? People around him who are willing to lay down their sanity, their lives just for them, he need only ask. You can not overturn a world in the spotlight, there is too much resistance, you must do it in the background of existing conflict - and you provided just that."
'I created you, Gellert, this image, this goal, it was all me," he explained, "...and soon I will do it again, I dare say I have already moulded the perfect candidate! Soon enough the Muggles will be dropping like flies once more, and I, the people's hero will do all but nothing to stop it."
Albus stood, his long drapes pooling behind him, "I did love you, Gellert, after all, I'm not merciless..." he smiled to himself, "...and, after all, you delivered me the Elder Wand, just as Tom will the stone and the Potter's will the cloak," Albus gleamed.
Slowly, the man leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his lover's lips, "I will make our dream a reality..." he promised before he withdrew the wand, which Gellert knew well, and pointed it at the crack in the wall.
Before his eyes, Gellert watched as the breach expanded and a small window with four glowing glass panes and a stone divider began to replace it. In the strange panels, Gellert noticed its once solid configuration turn into almost liquid as it began showing scenes from places far from there - one, humorously, being a familiar office at Albus' horrid school. With a quick smile toward his lover, Albus marched toward the door and knocked to alert the guards.
"...you need only watch, my love."